2009-06-28 - Brute Drugs 1
Cast Robin This costumed youth stands about five and three quarters feet tall, having a thin, gracefully athletic build, with an attractive but not excessive muscle tone. The upper half of his face is hidden behind a green domino mask, his eyes hidden by opaque white lenses. The mask arcs across his forehead at the top, and at the bottom dips over the tops of each cheekbone, leaving his nose and the rest of his face visible. From what you can see, his features are slightly tanned, handsome if boyish, and his shortish black hair falls to either side of his face from a natural part near the center of his head. He's wearing a uniform of contrasting bright and dark colors. His tunic is bold red in color, with green sleeves. Four horizontal yellow lines with a small, stylized yellow 'R' to his left of them are worn on his chest. The tunic goes from loose-fitting in the shoulders to fitting him like a leotard below his waist. Underneath he wears green tights, and over it all he wears a thick golden utility belt with a large, round buckle. He also wears a pair of heavy green gloves a pair of laceless black tabi-style boots on his feet. Finally, a black cape is worn fastened in a simple collar at his throat, yellow lining visible inside. Batman A tallish figure, standing at perhaps a hair underneath six feet two inches in height... but perhaps looking much taller. The dark figure of Batman, complete with his cowl, dark costume, boots and scowls, looks out upon the world with a permanent crease across his mouth. It's clear that he's well built, his tone body showing through the more thinner parts of his costume. But don't be fooled! Whilst he still looks to be able to move easily, the costume itself looks to be made of something hard. Perhaps the only bright thign on him is his large utility belt, wrapped about his waist with multiple pouces attached to it. An imposing figure, to be sure. Speedy Speedy is a young woman standing at about 5'4, wearing a snug-fitting red body suit with a yellow arrow emblem on the chest, golden-colored armored boots and gauntlets, a yellow hooded cape that falls just a few inches past her shoulders and a white-lensed mask that covers her eyes. Under the hood, she has long blonde hair held back in a secure ponytail. =Begin Log= Financial District - Gotham City Downtown Gotham city is a mixture of contrasting architectural styles. Many of the buildings are neo-classical monuments to Gotham's past, particularly those of financial organizations which presumably want to convey an image of sheer strength. These buildings are severe and solid, nearly devoid of decoration, with huge-columned entrances and tiny windows. These structures seem almost designed to minimize the human element, but are balanced somewhat by the more whimsical Gotham landmarks. Tall gleaming towers rise above the simpler structures, though nothing is quite so distinctive as the great Gotham Cathedral, a dark structure of gray stone covered in weeping angels and crowned with a large bell tower and steeple. The sky above is most often an oppressive bowl of shadowy clouds, though occasionally gives way to a sea of glittering stars. The better known museums in this area include the Butler Museum of Modern Art, the Gotham Art Institute, and the Gotham Museum of Natural History, and quite a number of theaters can be found here as well. Also located here are the largest of Gotham's banks and the stock exchange. /Very/ early Sunday morning in Gotham City. How early? Try two in the morning early! Or at least to most. To some it's late.. Well, mainly to the booze-hounds that risk quite a bit from getting drunk in Gotham at such an hour. Both Batman and Robin appear to be doing the thing that they usually do on such a night. Protecting the drunkards from getting too messed up! Or something like that. Already the night has proven to be a fruitful one, with seventeen take-downs, including one meta who was raging out of control. All in all, a profitable night -- but that hardly gives B&R an excuse to rest. Currently, the duo stand atop a large building in the Financial District. Batman himself is tying up the last of a small gang. Judging by the location, a gang trying to break into a jewelery store. Chump stuff, really. Executing the last remaining knot, the Dark Knight takes a step back, peering over to Robin. "...alright. Let's move on." And with this, he approaches the end of the building, eyes glancing about for their next target. Robin falls silently into step beside Batman, knowing that no conversation is really necessary at a time like this -- it's all routine, after all. Routine patrol, routine busts, routine procedure... just another late night in Gotham. As they reach the edge of the building, Robin taps through his long-range microphone and turns up the zoom on his mask's lenses, scanning about. He may not have a feel for the pulse of Gotham the way Batman does, not yet, but he's good at letting his technological eyes and ears give him direction. Speedy couldn't sleep. That's been a problem for her lately. So, here she is, out on the town, jumping from building to building. Truth be told, she's not even on patrol, or working- she's only in the uniform because it gives her an excuse to be spotted leaping between fire escapes and swinging from cables attatched to grappling arrows. The vigilante version of a late-night jog to clear the mind. She hasn't spotted the Dark Knight or his more-familiar-to-her partner... yet. As she finally starts to run out of breath, she stops atop one building in order to catch it, pulling her hood back to expose more of her face to the night air. She doesn't see the Dark Knight and his parter- in fact, the two of them have the better vantage point, as the nearby building she lands on is several stories lower. "Hnh." Batman's sixth sense for his awareness around Gotham is just what gives him the edge in a situation like this. While most would run around aimlessly, looking for trouble, Batman's process is far more methodical. It takes in all of the variables needed... and gives him checkpoints to reach at certain times of the night. "Good. We're running earlier than I had predicted." Was Robin performing better? It's certainly likely! He was getting some good practice in. That's as far as the talk goes though, with the Dark Knight simply lifting off, tensing his legs and pushing off to send himself soaring down to the ground below. As he falls, his cape opens up to slow his descent, the Batman half gliding, half falling as he plummets onto the very rooftop which Speedy is resting upon. Of course, he lands directly /behind/ her with a hardy thud. Perhaps he's not in the mood to be stealthy at the moment? Standing up from his crouch, with Robin hopefully landing faithfully behind him, Batman lets his cowl fall about his form idly. "...this is not really the place to be joy-riding." His voice... always angry. But not too angry. Just enough to get the point. Robin glides down to land softly on the rooftop, loudly enough to be heard but without the dramatic thud of his mentor. He crinches inwardly at Batman's caustic tone with Speedy, fighting back the urge to leap to her defense. As much as it'd be a gallant gesture, it'd also be a waste. Batman's not going to change his tactics just because Robin's been lucky enough to find himself a girlfriend. Instead, he tries to come in on a more diplomatic note. "Maybe you could join us on patrol," he suggests in a calculatedly mellow tone. "I mean, everyone can always use more practice and experience. Every time I run a circuit with Batman I learn a couple of things, or I at least get a refresher." Speedy is quick to spin around to face Batman as soon as she hears his feet hit the surface of the rooftop. Sometimes, it seems like she's strung as tight as her bowstring, especially lately. "It was either this or infomercials, and GA hates it when I order new kitchen gadgets," she's quick to respond, with a bit of a smirk- projecting confidence overtop of everything else. At Robin's offer, she shrugs a little, trying not to look too awkward. "I uh... don't wanna intrude, or anything." Boyfriend and his father-type-figure. So not awkward. Nope. Not at all. At least he's less prone to death threats than Ollie. After a moment's thought, she looks over her shoulder. "Uh. You haven't seen Arsenal following me do you? He and GA started talking again, and I'm pretty sure they're plotting." Batman turns a little bit, one of the white lenses in his mask /glaring/ at Robin as he suggests that. Despite the fact that he's wearing a heavy cowl, one can almost see the annoyance steaming off of his body. "..Mia is not part of the Bat Family. It is not our duty to train her. That's Queen's job." A look back to Speedy shows that the lines in his face have become far more significant. As good a point as he brought up, Robin brought up an equally good one. They did things far differently than the Arrows... something which Batman thought was a good thing. Oliver was just still getting the hang of this, likely. It'll be some years before he really gets into the swing of things. As she queries about Arsenal, Batman shakes his head. "Plotting?" He takes another step to the edge. "Try and keep up, Speedy." It seems from here on out, codenames were to be used! "..I do not know how fast your mentor goes. But we do not rest until the night's over." It says something about Robin's experience in dealing with Batman that he doesn't flinch under that glare. Even though he clearly follows his mentor's lead, the so-called Teen Wonder isn't one to cringe from a challenge -- even one as intense as Batman. As his mentor prompts Speedy to move on with the, Robin does move to follow Batman, but he pauses just long enough to nudge Speedy with his elbow and offer a quick grin, whispering, "Maybe we can adopt you into the family after all. Besides, the whole Montague/Capulet thing'd get pretty old if we just let it keep going for too long." This said, he puts on a serious face and follows Batman. Robin might be brave and even a little brash at times, but he's /not/ stupid. "If GA asks, we were making out in the back of the Redwing. I think that might piss him off /less/ than finding out I was patrolling with the your boss," she quips to Robin at the nudge- though she still falls in step behind Batman, pulling out a grappling arrow. Seems the idea of hanging out with the Bat doesn't bother her at all- even if he /is/ kinda scary. "And for the record? I draw the line at teen suicide pacts. My life's been enough of a Lifetime movie cliche already," she jokes, then adds. "Shutting up now," as she has the feeling Batman isn't so much in to the witty banter part of the job as Green Arrow is. With Robin following loyally, and now Mia in tow, Batman looks down at the scene below him. "Hnh." Tuning into that sixth sense once more, he takes a look to the West. "..we're running late. Let's go." And with this, he leaps! Of course, Speedy likely (as far as he's aware), isn't fitted with the same sort of cape technology that both he and Robin have. Batman takes this into account as he jumps from the rooftop, falling a few stories and landing on another. With this, he sprints across the top. Batman's raw athletic ability isn't displayed much, but it seems to be on view here -- the heavily weighted man streaking across the rooftop like a shadow hiding from the light. As he crosses that building, he leaps across an alleyway to start the process all over again. Rooftop hopping! Leap leap leap. This continues for a good ten minutes, before the Dark Knight will drop into a dark alleyway. Perhaps five or so meters wide. But why this alleyway? Either Batman got it wrong, or his senses are just that good. For only a handful of seconds later, a /beast/ of a man steps into the area. Looking to be eight foot tall and covered in muscles, he seems to grip the wall uneasily. As far as Hulks go, this man sure does fit the description! It must be some sort of drug, given the fact that his whole body is twitching under the strain. "..Evan. I expected as much." Batman gets out, looking up to the brute. Who is slowly yet surely, approaching the trio. If they kept up, of course! Robin stifles a chuckle at Mia's quip, instead falling into the pattern with Batman, rooftop to rooftop. He shows his own athletic prowess impressively enough, not having much visible difficulty in keeping up. He's not quite the "ghost" that his mentor is, but he's gotten to the point where he does a solidly respectable impression of it. If nothing else, the kid continues to show his developing potential. When they drop into the alley and the giant appears, Robin immediately palms an electro-shock batarang, the sort that do a fair job of impersonating a "stun gun" on impact, enough to put most grown men out cold. He's not sure how this confrontation is going to go down, and he's taking his cues from Batman, but it never hurts to be prepared. Somewhere, at the back of his mind -- so far back that he's not fully aware of it -- he comes up with half a dozen different approaches that he could use if he were leading a Young Justice mission. Since he's not, of course, that's not especially useful just now. Mia's only a few seconds behind Robin. Spotting the not so jolly, /or/ green giant on her descent, she opts to keep higher ground, perching on the edge of a dumpster, specially-soled shoes keeping an easy grip on the smooth surface. She lives up to her codename, nocking- but not yet releasing - an arrow from her quiver. It's clearly one of many 'trick' arrows, judging by the lack of a pointy tip, but just what kind is it? Hard to tell without it hitting anything yet. She waits for orders or instructions before taking any definite action. "Rrrarrghhh." Evan gets out, lurching towards the group. Robin may notice that behind them is a small door at the end of the alleyway. Probably into a warehouse or something, given the district that they're in. "Evan. You're not healthy... getting more shots isn't going to improve your--" WHAM! The brute of a man sends his fist, which is about the same size as Batman's head, straight for the Dark Knight. Who in turn hurtles backwards through the air, past Robin and below Speedy, and into a collection of trash-cans with a loud crash. "Nugh..even stronger.. than I thought." He gasps, feeling the wind escaping his lungs from that blow. Even with the costume on! Standing up, his fists clench. "Alright Evan. I tried the diplomatic route. Robin. We're going alpha-three-'a'." A strategy, perhaps? Against a meta like this, strategies are always good! Digging into his pouch, the man withdraws what looks to be two capsules, and sends them hurtling for the brute. And just like that, smoke fills the area! Smoke bombs, it seems. With a small adjustment of his jaw, Batman's lenses shift so that he's able to see the brute through the thick smoke. Now, it was up to Robin! And possibly the archer if she wanted to join in on the action. "Speedy. Fire at his knees! Now!" As soon as the pellets are away, Robin follows the pattern indicated and -- he doesn't bother to marvel, anymore, that Batman already knew he'd be palming the electrified batarangs -- tracks to one side of the alley, flinging two of the weapons as he goes. The first flies straight and true, right for Evan's center body mass. The second flies past him and, in true boomerang style, spins about to come back towards the back of his neck. The combined charge should enough to put down three men, but Robin's already reaching for two more, just in case. He doesn't want to put the big guy in the hospital, but he still definitely wants to put him down for the count. Speedy's quick to fire when ordered- and her aim is impeccable, especially at such short range. The arrow nocked right then? The bola- which, when fired at the man's knees, sends three weighs tethered to very strong cables spinning about the man's knees. She nocks another one, firing it more towards the man's midsection, after Robin's batarangs make contact, attempting to restrain his arms. Fzzzt! Evan may be strong, but he's certainly not quick or nimble enough to dodge the attacks thrown by a Robin. "Urrrghh!" The brute seems to catch himself before he falls down, eyes looking up. As he cannot see the little red-dressed sidekick, he instead swings wildly in the air, hoping for a lucky short. It's at this point when the third catches him in the neck, causing him to stumble forwards. Well.. he would, but his knees were bound. "Hhnhggghhrr!" He gets out, hitting the ground with a heavy thud. This final hit seems to be enough to render the brute unconscious. As they say .. the bigger they are, the harder they fall! If Speedy or Robin were expecting any praise, they're about to be sadly mistaken. Instead, as the smoke clears, Batman approaches the large man in question, whom is now laying flat on his face. "...there's been some sort of drug hormone problem in the streets lately. Increases the muscle levels well beyond their natural capacity. To a point where it creates a raging beast." Bending down, Batman proceeds to withdraw a blood sample. "..someone is keen on throwing Gotham into even more madness. I have been tracking Evan, but have no substantial leads. The only thing I have is that this is where he usually gets his hit for the week." Robin breathes a soft sigh of relief as Evan goes down, replacing the electrified batarangs in his belt. Metas in Gotham always mean trouble, especially when they're home grown. Designer drugs making muscle-heads... just what they /don't/ need. "Have we cross-referenced this time and location with shipping schedules? If this stuff is that hot an item, it might be coming in from out of town. Maybe New York, Hong Kong... Canada." Okay, so he threw that last one in just to make Mia smile, but hey, he's mostly behaving himself. "If it's local, then we could probably find out who's been getting large shipments of exotic chemicals lately. Maybe one of our local pharmaceutical companies is in on it. Something that sophisticated seems a bit much for the average drug pusher to get his hands on." Yeah, Robin's definitely the more talkative of the so-called Dynamic Duo. Speedy winces, shaking her head. "Yeah. Heard a bit about that- or something like it. One of my contacts knows a girl who ended up in the hospital after crossing paths with a guy juiced up on something nasty. Been trying to track her down, but she up and disappeared once she could walk again," she shares. "Rumours of some of the small-time dealers being chased out, too. Or, y'know. Worse," she adds. She does smirk a little at the Canada remark. Canadian druglords, scary! They'll f k you up... politely! "Nothing's getting shipped in." Batman replies simply, adjusting his utility belt and its contents a little bit. The blood sample is put back in. "..everything appears to be home-grown, even the drugs themselves. I have a hunch that they're being created right here in the Gotham underworld. I've ruled out the big suspects. The Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, Falcone, Two-Face. None of them seem to have a hand in it. Yet." His eyebrow does raise a little bit at Canada... what? He can only imagine what that means. A look goes to Speedy, where he gives a dutiful nod. "Victims have been increasing steadily for months now. More and more brutes are roaming the streets. Once they are on this drug, it's nearly impossible to come off. Furthermore, isolating the drug once its in the bloodtream has proven to be.. difficult. It's hard to track, even by my equipment." Lifting up a jump-line, Batman moves to fire it up to the rooftop edge. "...I think a new player has settled. One with some serious chemical know-how." Robin lifts his own grapnel gun, taking in Batman's description of the matter at hand. "Maybe more sophisticated equipment could isolate the drug," he reasons. "STAR Labs -- or even the Justice League -- might be able to get at it." He knows it's a touchy subject, bringing up sources from outside Gotham -- especially those with meta ties -- but he figures someone should say it. After all, it's been bad enough having the stuff on the streets this long already. "Whoever this guy is, he's gotta make a mistake somewhere. Maybe cracking his chemical code would give us the 'in' we need." Speedy nods. "I can talk to some of the girls I know, see if they know anything," she offers. "It's a long shot... but you'd be surprised what these kinda guys let slip around people they don't think are listening," she says. "Gonna need to get them the hell outta town if any of 'em know anything though," she adds, rubbing the bridge of her nose through her mask. Batman doesn't respond to what Robin says. It's likely the Dark Knight had already contemplated such things, but... it was sort of against his beliefs. "..I would like this to stay a Gotham problem for now. But if you would like to assist Speedy, that would be welcome." And with this, the jump-line pulls him up into the darkness! Fwoosh! Likely ready to press on. Just another few minutes in the night of Batman! Hoo rah! End Log